Teams & Riders The Remco Evenepoel is the next Eddy Merckx thread

[Red Rick]

This thread reads like the Contador thread when he didn't have it in the 2016 or 2017 Dauphine. But hey, let's see his actual level before jumping to conclusions.

Roglic, Vingegaard amd Evenepoel all on pure copium vibes at the moment

 

[Elos Anjos]

I'm looking forward to the sequels of the R&R hype bromance. Roglic fans are used to meltdowns and total disappointments, Remoc fans are getting there after 900 pages, but as they say, faiures "build character".

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

He said it was a good day as he didn't get dropped. I'd say that's funny, but Hindley probably doesn't agree. He wasn't interested in sprinting because he knew Cort was still in the group and Roglic was also interested, so he decided to save energy for the coming days.

Interview in French and Dutch

Remco Evenepoel past voor sprint na "stevige" dag: "Maar heb niet moeten lossen, dus dat is goed" | sporza

Remco Evenepoel heeft voor het eerst zijn conditie kunnen testen in de heuveletappe van de Dauphiné. De Belgische klimmer wilde zich na een dag in het pak nog niet mengen in de sprint. "Want er komt nog veel op ons af deze week", blijft Evenepoel voorzichtig positief.

sporza.be

 

[red_flanders]

So Remco playing down his form and his chances me thinks ...learned the hard way with all the Belgian media pressure. I expect he wont win but wont be that bad either

Who asked the question at the end about his and Roglic competitiveness ...must have been someone from this forum

He does it before almost every big race. Never know what to expect, but before all the comments about him not being in top form, I'd have expected him to be flying. But...looked pretty conservative today. Which is...different...for him.

 

[red_flanders]

I don't get why y'all get so "upset" about all this. It's not difficult to understand though. He didn't have good legs during the altitude stage. So it's difficult to for him to say that he has big goals during this Dauphiné. It's just a prep race anyway. Maybe with the effect of altitude and the week of relative rest he had after the stage, his level will improve and he'll be able to get some good results. But he doesn't know and he only cares about improving his shape.
The Tour is 3 weeks after the last stage of Dauphiné, so he still has time to get much better.

I won't say anyone sounds "upset", but to answer your question I'll postulate a theory.

The hope among fans is that Remco would come into the Tour in form he's never had, as that's what it likely will take to podium or even win. That implies he'd be pretty much flying right now and would possibly add some more watts before the Tour. That he doesn't appear (yet) to be flying right now and that his team are lowering expectations for this race means that even if he comes into the Tour with Vuelta '22 form, it's might well not be enough to podium (let alone win) the Tour.

So it's not what folks had hoped to see.

Maybe. I dunno. I speculate. Or I'm projecting.

 

[Karl Merckx]

I won't say anyone sounds "upset", but to answer your question I'll postulate a theory.

The hope among fans is that Remco would come into the Tour in form he's never had, as that's what it likely will take to podium or even win. That implies he'd be pretty much flying right now and would possibly add some more watts before the Tour. That he doesn't appear (yet) to be flying right now and that his team are lowering expectations for this race means that even if he comes into the Tour with Vuelta '22 form, it's might well not be enough to podium (let alone win) the Tour.

So it's not what folks had hoped to see.

Maybe. I dunno. I speculate. Or I'm projecting.

I can assure you that Vuelta 22 form is enough to podium TDF...

 

[AmRacer]

I can assure you that Vuelta 22 form is enough to podium TDF...

The other bigger three disagree, if they are in good shape.

 

[red_flanders]

I can assure you that Vuelta 22 form is enough to podium TDF...

Possible. Not sure everyone would "assure" that's the case. Too subjective to say one way or the other. If Vingegaard shows up in anything near top form, the podium is gonna be tough. Roglič was looking crazy strong in Basque before the crash. Someone almost always surprises.

Doesn't matter. Going to be a great edition whatever happens, as long as the faves don't crash out.

 

[Berniece]

Roglič was looking crazy strong in Basque before the crash.

How do? Only thing impressive was the TT, and that was just normal Roglic level

 

[Netserk]

I can assure you that Vuelta 22 form is enough to podium TDF...

If he loses time to Mas over all the mountain stages, he won't podium the Tour.

 

[Extinction]

Warming down after the stage, Remco had a big smile and looked fresh as a daisy. Who knows what his actual level is and the fact that he wasn't in the mix for the stage winning sprint could indicate his level still has a ways to come up. By contrast, he could just intentionally be playing himself down and uncharacteristically holding back to keep as much presure off himself during this last, delicate phase of preparing for the Tour. This week should provide a clearer picture, but the fact that he looked so relaxed after the stage indicates to me that Remco might actually be in a very good place right now.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Happy to not get dropped? Stop it man, ridicolous comment

 

[red_flanders]

How do? Only thing impressive was the TT, and that was just normal Roglic level

Yeah not sure how to quantify any of this, it's all subjective. To me he looked stronger than he has in a long time. YMMV.

I expect him to be guns blazing in this race, and expect him to win.

 

[Red Rick]

We absolutely cannot wait 2 days to make an assessment.

 

[Karl Merckx]

If he loses time to Mas over all the mountain stages, he won't podium the Tour.

There's only one stage where Mas or Roglic were better than Remco, and that was 2 days after remco's crash. Maybe there's a relation there...
Anyway still, Mas was good back then, he climbed better than Pogacar in the italian classics a few weeks after this vuelta.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Warming down after the stage, Remco had a big smile and looked fresh as a daisy. Who knows what his actual level is and the fact that he wasn't in the mix for the stage winning sprint could indicate his level still has a ways to come up. By contrast, he could just intentionally be playing himself down and uncharacteristically holding back to keep as much presure off himself during this last, delicate phase of preparing for the Tour. This week should provide a clearer picture, but the fact that he looked so relaxed after the stage indicates to me that Remco might actually be in a very good place right now.

Yeah, after the TT we will know more. If he beats Chris Froome then he should have high hopes for the Tour.

 

[AmRacer]

There's only one stage where Mas or Roglic were better than Remco, and that was 2 days after remco's crash. Maybe there's a relation there...
Anyway still, Mas was good back then, he climbed better than Pogacar in the italian classics a few weeks after this vuelta.

Rogla would've won, wright?

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

We absolutely cannot wait 2 days to make an assessment.

I think there is a misunderstanding. Discussions of Remco's properties are clearly metaphysics and aspire a truth outside of mere space-time.

 

[peterfin]

I think there is a misunderstanding. Discussions of Remco's properties are clearly metaphysics and aspire a truth outside of mere space-time.

Remco is the holographic projection of the omega point in our space-time epoch. He will evolve in the inevitable, all encompassing, god-like singularity at the end of times. He is the way, the truth and the life. His qualities should be discussed and understood.

 

[Extinction]

This is getting weird, let's talk about the athletic analysis. I'm curious, for example, to find out how he climbs in this race.

 

[red_flanders]

We absolutely cannot wait 2 days to make an assessment.

We absolutely should not be discussing cycling on a cycling forum.

 

[peterfin]

This is getting weird, let's talk about the athletic analysis. I'm curious, for example, to find out how he climbs in this race.

Of course, we can leave the metaphysical framework and focus on derivatives such as his athletic abilities.

At the moment there isn't much that we can conclude. He could follow one third of the peloton today and decided not to sprint because he knew Cort would win ... which may actually point to his metaphysical qualities of knowing the future!

In all seriousness, I think he doesn't know what to expect. It seems that he wants to conserve his energy for the TT and the mountain stages to get good reference points for himself. If the GC was his main goal, he would have sprinted for the bonies.

 

[Extinction]

Of course, we can leave the metaphysical framework and focus on derivatives such as his athletic abilities.

At the moment there isn't much that we can conclude. He could follow one third of the peloton today and decided not to sprint because he knew Cort would win ... which may actually point to his metaphysical qualities of knowing the future!

In all seriousness, I think he doesn't know what to expect. It seems that he wants to conserve his energy for the TT and the mountain stages to get good reference points for himself. If the GC was his main goal, he would have sprinted for the bonies.

I didn't realize Cort was so good a sprinter as to make Evenepoel not even try to go for the stage win. It's highly uncharacteristic of him. And it's surprising Roglstomp got so imperiously stomped in the sprint by the During Gaul Dane.

 

[tobydawq]

I didn't realize Cort was so good a sprinter as to make Evenepoel not even try to go for the stage win. It's highly uncharacteristic of him. And it's surprising Roglstomp got so imperiously stomped in the sprint by the During Gaul Dane.

It's also entirely impossible to tell how far back Roglic was when Cort went.

 

[Red Rick]

He may not fancy sprinting with his shoulder.